Museum’s
important African, Latin American and Native American holdings will be
significantly more accessible to scholars, students and the public
PRINCETON,
N.J. – The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Princeton University
a grant of $300,000 to support three years of specialist research in
targeted areas of the collections as part of the Art Museum’s multiyear
Collections Discovery Initiative. The grant allows the Museum to develop
deep collections data for three rich but understudied areas of the
Museum’s collections – African, Latin American and Native American art.
The resulting information – including subject tagging, artist
biographies and/or culture group backgrounds, geo-references, exhibition
histories, bibliographies, contexts and purposes of objects and links
to related concepts and artworks – will be documented and published
online for greatly improved discovery by scholars, educators, students,
visitors and global audiences via the Museum’s website.
By increasing core knowledge in these three collections areas and
offering intuitive access points to improved collections records, the
Museum will advance efforts to provide more diverse and inclusive
understanding of the collections and of global art history for all of
its audiences.
“Thanks once again to the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, the Museum will be able to dramatically enhance the
teaching, learning and research activities around these important but
previously understudied areas of our collections,” said James Steward,
the Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director. “We
look forward to expanding our understanding of, and ultimately access
to, these extraordinary objects through this critical process of
investigation and dissemination.”
The 2017 grant builds on past support from the Mellon Foundation that
dramatically enhanced diverse and sustained academic use of the Museum’s
collections of nearly 100,000 works of art.
The Princeton University Art Museum’s African art holdings represent a
wide range – materially and culturally – of artistic production. The
original bequest of African art to Princeton was made in 1953, and this
area has been a specific focus of recent art acquisition activity, with
changing highlights on view in the Museum’s recently expanded African
art gallery. In recent years, the Museum has organized several special
exhibitions of African art, including Life Objects: Rites of Passage in African Art (2009), Kongo across the Waters (2014) and Surfaces Seen and Unseen: African Art at Princeton (2016).
At the heart of the Museum’s collection of Latin American art is a
group of 140 works gifted to the University by Princeton alumnus David
L. Meginnity, Class of 1958. The Meginnity Collection features strong
examples of many important Latin American artists – including Francisco
Toledo, Wilfredo Lam, Rafael Coronel, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Francisco
Zuñiga and Alfredo Ramos Martínez. A subsequent bequest from the same
alumnus, realized in 2000, has enabled the purchase of additional works
of Latin American art.
Included in the Museum’s collection of art from the ancient Americas
are 1,453 artworks by Native American artists. The Museum’s holdings are
particularly strong in Native American Northwest Coast art, thanks to
the donation in 1882 of 324 objects of mostly Tlingit origin, as well as
Arctic walrus ivory carvings and works from the American Southwest and
Mississippi Valley.
About the Princeton University Art Museum
With
a collecting history that extends back to 1755, the Princeton
University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in
the country, with collections that have grown to include nearly 100,000
works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the
globe.
Committed
to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum
also serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the
world. Intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a
respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of
extraordinary works of art and an opportunity to delve deeply into the
study of art and culture.
The
Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the
Princeton campus, a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau
Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1
to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.
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